Soccer Narcolepsy-Catch It!

My day job requires me to get up early in the morning. Part of my morning ritual involves listening to ESPN Radio’s ‘All Night with Jason Smith’ as I’m getting ready for work. I usually get to hear the final hour of his program while having my ‘jump start’ cup of coffee. Smith has kind of a nerdy, lighthearted style that I find less obnoxious than the alternatives. It works well at that time and helps me wake up and ease into the day.

This morning, I found out that the 4-Letter is pre-empting the final hour of Smith’s show for the next month in favor of coverage of the upcoming World Cup in South Africa. Question: What’s more boring than watching soccer? Answer: Listening to people talk about soccer. FOR AN HOUR! Ten days before the World Cup even begins! This is the dumbest idea they’ve had since they programmed a portion of Radio Sportscenter in which they had an ESPN Deportes update delivered by a reporter with a Spanish accent.

Look, I get it. The World Cup, much like the Olympics, is a premier sporting event that every 4 years compels American sports fans to feign interest in a competition that most couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the rest of the time. I understand that soccer has a dedicated following in this country and I have no problem with small segments of general sports programming devoted to its coverage. But even ESPN must realize the audience is limited or they would have picked a better time slot than 3 a.m. Clearly ESPN Radio is using ‘FIFA World Cup Today’ as a tool to promote its broadcasts of the actual games. I just wish they could have found a way to cater to that audience without screwing up my morning.

Tags: All Night with Jason Smith, ESPN Radio, Futbol, World Cup